Unfamiliar with the term cam girl?
Well let the films screenwriter Isa Mazzei explain.
A cam girl is someone who performs online for money, she says.
Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images
Theres a whole wide spectrum of different cam girls.
Really, the only definition is, someone who performs online in front of their webcam for money.
Mazzei knows of what she speaks.
Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images
The writer grew up in Boulder, Colorado, and studied Russian and Italian literature at UC Berkeley.
I had always wanted to try sex work, says Mazzei.
I just fell in love with it.
Blumhouse Productions
The writers positive experience with camming is reflected in the film.
Were not opening the conversation, Is camming good or bad?'
[But] its honestly not up to anyone else to decide.
Thats the whole point of the film.
There are people in my life who would tell me, Acting is ruining your life.
Its making you a crazy person.
Its making you neglect your mental health and your physical health.
Its not benefitting you.
But I want it and its mine, you know.
Mazzei conceivedCamwith the films director Daniel Goldhaber and the pair share the movies a film by credit.
Its mostly focused on documentary and experimental films, he says.
The second semester, the entire class of students directs a documentary by committee.
While we were working together, he became really fascinated with the world of camming.
He decided we should do something in this area.
I had always [thought about] doing something like a documentary.
We got no clients pitched to us.
You go and you say, Well, can we talk to X actress?
and their agents would say, Theyve unfortunately passed on the role.
The agents just didnt want their clients in the film.
Goldhaber was eventually pointed in the direction of Brewer by an unlikely third party his own father.
My dad is a physicist, but he really likes to pretend that hes part of the filmmaking process.
He walks into the room and he goes, I found your lead actress.
And were like, Sureyou did.
And hes like, No, I did.
Shes in thisBlack Mirrorepisode, shes perfect for the role.
Youve got to cast her.
I looked her up, and we watched her material, and she was absolutely incredible.
Somebody at Blum knew her manager, got us a meeting.
I met with her, Isa met with her.
She not only got the movie but was really excited about the politics.
[She] came in, and read, and that was kind of it.
It was so obvious from that first moment that she was really born to be in the film.
To prepare for the role, Brewer studied hours and hours of cam footage.
I knew cam existed, but I hadnt really watched much, says the actress.
Its just not my thing, I guess.
But in research for the role, I studied cam girls, their personalities, and their nuances.
I actually saved it up to the week leading up to the shoot.
Every night, Id finish prep, and Id cam for a couple of hours.
Im extremely bad at it.
I have no sexual charisma and I just absolutely could not get any sort of money.
Brewer recalls that Goldhaber was very open to input from the women on set.
He listened to thewomenat every turn.
If he didnt have that ability to listen and to be aware, the movie wouldnt have worked.
That was pretty incredible, says Mazzei.
I cried, definitely.
Having an audience of strangers watch it for the first time in a theater was really moving.
The film has also inspired weeping in audience members.
Some of them were former sex workers, some of them are current sex workers.
Campremieres on Netflix and opens in select theaters Friday.
Watch the films somewhat disturbing trailer, above.
